1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display apparatus and, more particularly, to liquid crystals and a liquid crystal display apparatus employing the liquid crystals.
2. Discussion of the Background
A liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus displays images using liquid crystals. The LCD apparatus includes first and second substrates facing each other with a liquid crystal layer therebetween. Further, first and second electrodes are disposed on the first and second substrates, respectively, and the liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first and second electrodes. Thus, when a voltage is applied to the first and second electrodes, the voltage generates an electric field that crosses the liquid crystal layer.
The liquid crystal layer includes liquid crystals, and the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer are aligned along a specific direction by the electric field. That is, the alignment direction of the liquid crystals is determined by the electric field. In this case, the transmittance of light penetrating the liquid crystal layer depends on the alignment of the liquid crystals. The LCD apparatus controls the alignment of the liquid crystals using a material property of the liquid crystal layer and displays visual images corresponding to the transmittance of the light.
The liquid crystal layer includes various compound materials, and the properties of the liquid crystal layer may change according to characteristics of each compound material. Further, the properties of the liquid crystal layer influence the overall operation of the LCD apparatus. For example, the first and second electrodes and the liquid crystal layer therebetween constitute a capacitor, and the capacitance of the capacitor depends on a dielectric constant of the liquid crystal layer. In this case, when the capacitance of the capacitor varies, the operational characteristics of the LCD apparatus may also change.